Liz is the Founder and Director of Soma Yoga Institute, a world-wide, in-person and online yoga teacher training school that embraces a therapeutically-oriented, heart-centered approach. These programs, heralded by many as truly inspirational, combine modern day biomechanics and research driven science with ancient teachings and serve to teach adaptive Yoga for all BODIES as a practice for vibrant health, self-transformation and personal empowerment.

Liz has trained extensively in the Hatha systems of Kripalu, Ashtanga, Anusara and Integrative Yoga Therapy.

In her work as a yoga therapist, Liz specializes in working with students with musculoskeletal issues as well as helping seniors age gracefully. She is highly skilled in adapting practices to meet the complex health challenges associated with aging. In collaborative partnership with Yoga 4 Brain Health she has co-founded the Memory Maintenance Yoga Teacher Training program that certifies Yoga teachers to help their communities delay the onset of memory loss related diseases through Yoga. Liz also serves as a faculty-mentor for the Kripalu School of Integrative Yoga Therapy supporting professionals on their journey to become yoga therapists.

Liz is known is for her ability to bridge the gap between the ancient perspectives of yoga and contemporary daily life. Her teaching weaves together philosophy, creative sequencing, clear alignment, mindful breathing, and compassionate self-inquiry to form a tapestry that reflects her heartfelt commitment to this transformative path.

Liz believes that the path of Yoga brings greater ease, not just to the individual, but to all beings everywhere, and ultimately uplifts planetary consciousness one conscious breath at a time.

Liz Heffernan

Jess Trudeau carries 900 hours of advanced certifications from Yogaworks, Laughing Lotus, Blissology Bali, and Heartwood Institute.

A nomad at heart, she has led teacher trainings, retreats, workshops and classes worldwide for 15 years since her first class to a group of women in Mongolia while living in the Peace Corps.

She finds joy in making yoga accessible to all with creative use of props and adaptations for beginners, injuries, body types, and pregnancy; instilling an inclusive environment for the practice of yoga. Her mantra is, “move like yourself” and encourages students to find their own inner teacher with the foundation of guiding principles. She infuses classes with mantras on harmonium to find voice, hand mudras, breath pranayama, as well as insightful themes and intentions to shake out routine and invite people back home to their bodies. She is interested in balancing the architecture of alignment with the grace and freedom found in flow.

Jess first began practicing yoga in 1999 as a young college student in art school and fell in love with it’s creative nature. The practice has been her foundation through the carnival of life including motherhood and a tumultuous illness with Guilliane-Barre that left her temporarily paralyzed in 2016. She believes her yoga and meditation practice to be the shining light through any darkness on her path as it has helped her recognize the body’s phenomenal potential to overcome. She uses yoga as a gateway to better understand oneself, accept and even celebrate our humanness, and to seek wonder in the cracks where the light tries to find us. 

Jess Trudeau